Without a sponsor, Almirola's No. 8 car hits the brakes

The No. 8 car that Dale Earnhardt Jr. made famous while driving for his late father's team is being parked.

Earnhardt Ganassi Racing announced yesterday that the failure to find a sponsor is forcing them to withdraw the car presently driven by Aric Almirola on the NASCAR Sprint Cup circuit.

Almirola ranked 37th in the Sprint Cup points.

Earnhardt Jr. drove the car under the banner of Dale Earnhardt Inc., but left the team over a dispute with stepmother Teresa Earnhardt over control of the team.

Between 40 and 50 employees of the team were laid off after the announcement. The team still has two cars on the Sprint Cup tour driven by Juan Pablo Montoya (presently 13th in the point standings) and Martin Truex Jr. (24th).

The announcement came after Almirola had dropped out of the top 35 in the points standings, at least temporarily costing the team its third automatic qualifying spot in Sprint Cup fields.

TROUBLE PLAGUES FORMULA ONE

The FIA's International Court of Appeal meets in Paris on Tuesday to decide if the controversial diffuser being used on the rear end of cars from three teams (Brawn, Toyota and Williams) is legal.

The court might also deal with other problems that could almost force the results of the season's first two races to be thrown out and sideline McLaren and reigning World Champion Lewis Hamilton.

Brawn's Jenson Button won the first two races in one of the cars being challenged. Brawn and Toyota are presently atop the Formula One standings.

But if the protest from the four powerful teams is upheld, the results from the first two races could be revised or tossed completely.

Plus, the FIA will review the circumstances that led to the season's second race being called just past the midpoint. And the FIA will study claims that Hamilton “deliberately gave misleading statements” to Formula One officials about an incident involving his McLaren team and Toyota's Jarno Trulli in the season opener.

Trulli had been stripped of his third-place finish in the Australian season opener for passing Hamilton while the safety car was on the course. Trulli claimed he had to pass Hamilton because the World Champion had abruptly slowed under orders from his team. Hamilton denied the charge, and the McLaren team said there had been no communication between the pits and the driver over the radio – leading to Trulli's disqualification. But a check of the radio communications showed Hamilton had discussed the situation with his pit.

CHECKERED FLAGS

Jeff Gordon: Claimed the 82nd win of his career last Sunday at Texas Motor Speedway, one of two tracks where he hadn't won, to break a 47-race winless streak.